1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fuel cell apparatus for vehicles, and particularly, to a fuel cell apparatus for vehicles using air as a reaction gas and a coolant.
2. Relevant Art
Fuel cell stacks can keep a stable operational performance, when held within an adequate temperature range. For instance, in fuel cell vehicles equipped with an air-cooled fuel cell stack, the fuel cell stack tends to have increased temperatures in environments involving high temperatures of outside air. Then, the fuel cell stack may have excessively increased temperatures exceeding a prescribed temperature, with anxieties about degraded operational performances of the fuel cell stack. In such situations, the fuel cell stack needs to be cooled with as much natural ventilation air streams (sometimes referred simply to as air streams) suctioned into an air suction duct to supply to the fuel cell stack, as possible. It is noted that the term ‘natural ventilation air streams’ refers to flows or streams of outside air about a vehicle, whether the vehicle is running or not.
In such fuel cell vehicles, the fuel cell stack tends to have decreased temperatures in environments involving low temperatures of outside air. Then, the fuel cell stack may have excessively decreased temperatures falling below a prescribed temperature, with anxieties about degraded operational performances of the fuel cell stack. In such situations, the fuel cell stack needs to be warmed to raise such temperatures, as necessary